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Author
Topic: Time to go under the knife... (Read 6720 times)

After having yet another heart attack the first of March and being lifeline to the hospital, I was ready for the open heart surgery that has been put off for almost 9 months. However my ID doctor once again said it was way to risky, and wanted at least a month if possible, to build me up so the risk wouldn't be so bad.

So today the surgery was scheduled for this coming Tuesday, a quadruple coronary bypass. My ID doctor is out on vacation this week, and will be returning Monday, and hopefully he will give the go ahead, but as the surgeon said today, time is running out, and at some point the surgery is just going to have to happen.

My numbers aren't great...but I do have the highest CD4's now then I have had in years...a whole 70 of them...

I know the risks of infection are high and so I am really scared. I can't do anything without having chest pains...hell the pain wakes me up in the middle of the night...I eat nitro like candy....which isn't good at all.

So Monday I will meet with the ID doctor and will beg him to give his approval...which he told me last week that when the time comes that I can't take it any longer...they would just have to take the risk...and that time has come.

Thank you all for the well wishes....it really means a lot to me....what a very special group of people that are here on this board....each and everyone of you!!

I had all the pre-op procedures done Friday and everything is ready to go. I stopped by my ID doctor office after leaving the hospital and found out that he will not be back in the office until Tuesday afternoon...since my surgery is at 7:30 in the morning on Tuesday how am I going to get his approval. They said that he should call in on Monday and they will discuss it with him, so now it's a waiting game.

Sorry to hear this Bob, I was really hoping that those 70 t-cells might have been enough to get you into surgery. You must be feeling pretty disheartened today on getting that call but don't give up hope.

I'm sure there are plenty of us on here who will continue to send positive vibes your way and hope that those t-cells get up to a level to enable your doctor to give the go ahead.

Hi Bob ! I'm sure there is something we can't understand , in some higher spheres, that is moving , shifting and postponingevents..and sure it's for good! Please, notice us as soon as you get rid of the knife works...

I am so f'ing mad....I just got home from the ID doctor....and as he is reading my labs, I get an "ohh shit" from the doctor....he tells me that when they read him the lab reports they said 209,000 for my viral load...when it actually was 209...pretty damn close to undetectable...and I could have had the surgery...

WHAT....

So here I have been worried that another regimen was failing since my VL was so high...what the hell am I going to do about this surgery if I can't get my numbers in line....wasted worrying....

He is going to go ahead and do one more VL Monday...have it back by Thursday...and if it's still below 500...then right into surgery....

I have been in the hospital since Thursday....can we say another heart attack...and the time is finally here to get this surgery over with...everything is signed, sealed, and delivered. In 12 hours they will take me in for the quad bypass...my nurse is letting me use the computer here in the room...so I can twitter...email and such before I'm out of commission....get this rebuilt heart in and I'll be good for another 55 years....

Dad, please let your nurse know how grateful we all are that s/he allowed you computer access. I'll be sending you love, light and positive healing energy - as much as I can muster. Can't wait to hear back from you about how it all went.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Dad, that's great news and it sounds like you're recovering well. A mate of mine also recently had a quad bypass but he was stuck in hospital for two weeks. He doesn't like the incision scar either. I'm just over the moon that both of you are ok and doing well.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Your post made my day !!! So happy to hear that everything went well for you, and that you are now in recovery mode !! Also glad to hear that you were in good hands during all of this !! Here's wishing you a speedy recovery. Keep us updated !!

It sounds like you are recovering at very fast pace. I think they make the hospital food bland so most people won't want to stay. Since, I'm not real big on spicy food hospital food never bothered me. When my father was in the hospital shortly before he passed away he told me I would love the food there because it was so bland!

I so happy for you ... keep the good news coming!

gentle hugs,AA

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It is not the arrival that matters. It is the journey along the way. -- Michel Montaigne